Imagination Technologies CEO knighted

Imagination Technologies Group plc (IMG) CEO Hossein Yassaie has been awarded a British knighthood by the Queen in Her Majesty’s New Year Honors 2013. The award was given in recognition of his services to technology and innovation.

A British national, Hossein gained a BSc degree (1979) and PhD degree (1982) from Birmingham University in Electronics and Communication Engineering as well as serving as a Research Fellow.

He worked for Inmos and ST Microelectronics before joining Imagination Technologies as CTO in 1992.

Imagination Technologies, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, has a market capitalization of over £1bn, employs more than 1,300 people globally and develops and licenses technologies used in over one billion products.

It was Hossein who refocused the business on advanced technology development and created Imagination Technologies’ successful silicon intellectual property (IP) business model. He became Imagination Technologies’ Chief Executive Officer in June 1998.

In a statement, Hossein said was “absolutely delighted and deeply humbled,” by the knighthood which he said meant a lot to him “both personally and professionally.”

Hossein said he had always wanted to make a difference, and was seeing the honor “not only as a major recognition for past effort but as a real encouragement for the future.”

Hossein also thanked others in his life, noting that his achievements had depended on the support and commitment he received from family, friends, work colleagues and business partners. “I have been very fortunate in this respect and see this honor as much theirs as mine.”